Allison Wilbur

Welcome – I love to share my love of quilting and art. Whether you are perusing my galleries for inspiration, reading my blog for tips and happenings, or looking for a trunk show or workshop for your group, I hope you enjoy my website. If you have any questions – just click on the contact form and get in touch!

About

Allison Wilbur is an award winning longarm quilter and quilt artist. Her work is rooted in her life experiences as the daughter of a watercolor painter and a cabinetmaker, and the wife of a diplomat. Wilbur was originally drawn to traditional quilting for its combination of color and geometry. Decades of living overseas in Japan, Russia, Tunisia, Kuwait, Oman and Switzerland, and travel to many other countries has added elements of textiles, color combinations, and design elements from other cultures. Often these elements are paired with traditional American piecing to create collaborative work that celebrates the international language of fiber shared by women in so many cultures around the world.

Wilbur lectures on textiles from around the world, quilting techniques, and art quilting to regional quilt guilds. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, the New England Quilt Museum, in major national quilt festivals, art galleries and museums.

Together with her husband, Dick Wilbur, she manages a project, “Quilt for Change,” which uses challenge art quilt exhibits to inspire social change. The exhibits have been displayed at the United Nations in Switzerland and New York, have traveled with major quilt shows in the U.S. and at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA.

Fiber ArtistAllison is a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and the past co-rep for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island regional SAQA group. She is most comfortable in the intersection between art and quilting and enjoys dyeing fabric, designing patterns, and using surface design techniques and embellishments to create fiber art. Her work has been exhibited in museums, fine art galleries and at major and regional quilt shows and is in private collections around the world. To see a selection of her art quilts, please visit her gallery.

Trunk Shows and Workshops If your guild is looking fora dynamic program, contact Allison to schedule an informative and inspiring lecture and workshop combo designed to interest quilters of all levels. Wilbur’s trunk shows are engaging for all levels and the workshops help build skills and techniques that appeal to a wide variety of interests.

Quilt for ChangeAllison and her husband Dick are cofounders of Quilt for Change. They create challenge art quilt exhibits for display at the United Nations and venues across the U.S. The challenges are themed on issues important to women around the world and are a call for awareness and action to improve the lives of women everywhere.

Longarm QuiltingAllison specializes in semi custom quilting designed to to complement piece work. Her studio is in Warren, Rhode Island. Her customer’s quilts have won numerous awards in local guild shows and Viewer’s Choice at the Best of New England Guilds exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum.

Quilting Classes

Allison teaches Machine Quilting at Knit One Quilt Too in Barrington, RI, a multi session class that gives you a solid foundation in machine quilting on your home machine and a large library of design choices. For a list of classes and lectures, check out my schedule or contact me for more info. (No classes in Fall 2018)

Quilting RetreatsIt’s settled – the spring retreat will happen May 17 – 19 at Meraki Studios in Warren, RI. The retreat will give you three worry free days to create and relax with lots of room to work on projects and a few exploratory trips to other fiber artists in the building. Email Allison to sign up for the retreat – but don’t hesitate because space is limited.

How can you contact me?

To contact me about any of these services, please use the Contact Me form on this website.

My studio is in 30 Cutler Street, an old zipper factory. This is where I create and do my long arming work. Visitors are welcome by appointment, just send me an email to set up a time to visit.

Directions to my studio: 30 Cutler Street has a tower at the front of the building. Drive past the tower and continue to the end of the building where you will see a sign that says “Side and Back Entrances.” Turn left there and drive along the side of the building to the back, where there is a large parking lot. My studio is just inside the side entrance on the first floor, Studio 101A.

30 Cutler Street Studio 101A on the first floor via the side entranceTravel along Cutler Street to the end of the 30 Cutler St building, turn left and head to the side entrance. There is plenty of parking in the back.

Schedule

Workshops, Lectures, Exhibitions and Classes

Please use the contact me form on this website to set a date for me to come speak at your guild.

2020

March 11- 12, “Trip Around the World” Trunk show and “Color in Quilting” workshop, Belknap Mill Quilt Guild, Laconia, NH.